What is your favorite part about U.S.History?

[Dude111]

I thought this thread title was "What was your favourite part of history" and if it were my response would have been "STUFF WAS MADE MUCH BETTER..... QUALITY WAS MUCH BETTER"

 

[Andrew]

Well I like to all the parts of the history but my favorites are as follows

History of my part of Newyork
The development of sanitation
American Civil War

 

[Mr.Owl]

1800-1860

Louisiana Purchase, Civil War, Antebellum Era, Manifest Destiny, Oregon Country, Compromises, anything Native American of that time and definately the War of 1812, considering that Andrew Jackson is one of my favorite all time Presidents, and that I live but a a few miles from the place where it was ended.

 

[Wry Catcher]

My daughter just got done with her AP Euro Class for the year, and she LOVED IT!

Next year she takes AP US History. She said she doesn't think it will be as interesting since our country isn't as old as Europe. I told her there are MANY interesting things to learn abour our country.


What is/was your favorite thing to study/read about in US History?

My absolute favorite is reading 'history' which I learned as a current event. How historians, both professional and amatuer, spin people and events. Knowing this I still read history, and my favorite comes in the form of biographies or first person essays, with an understanding that most of what we read is subjective. Primary sources are best and I assume an AP course uses them and not text books (AP courses didn't exist in my HS years).

My least favorite thing about the way US history is usually presented is the focus on the president. The Diplomatic History of the US, the Economic History of the US, The US Labor Movement and the works of American humorists,Twain, Rogers etc, and novelists provide greater detail on issues and events, cause and effect, and outcomes (good or bad) then the study of a presidential administration and our elections.

 

[initforme]

My favorite part about american history is the fact I dont have to sit through a bunch of history classes. I can say that history is god awful boring. Never did have an affinity for it. Must have been the nuns I had for teachers. They can take the blame for this.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Jamestown, VA and Williamsburg, VA

 

[Cecilie1200]

I think the thing that makes American history most interesting of all is the fact that it affects all of our lives virtually every day. It fascinates me to study and learn the reasons why things are the way they are.

For example, in the 2000 Presidential election, when the left was wailing about "every vote should count" and how that was the most important thing, overriding any other concerns like legally-mandated deadlines, how many people knew that, in fact, Florida's vote registration deadline was set PRECISELY because of a similar situation?

During the election of Rutherford B. Hayes, following the Civil War, the count was very close, and Florida was the deciding state. The counts and disputes ran on and on, with tensions mounting higher and higher in a nation still trying to recover from the devastation of war. The question was thrown to the House of Representatives, and right up until the night before the Inauguration, no one had any idea who was going to be the President. Finally, Hayes made a deal with the Representatives, promising that if they decided in his favor, he would withdraw federal troops from the South, where they had been stationed for peacekeeping. The House agreed; his opponent graciously conceded, stating that the continuation of the Union was more important than who held the Presidency; and Florida passed a law requiring all votes to be turned in by a set deadline to prevent that situation ever happening again.

And then we all forgot history, and were doomed to relive it.

 

[whitehall]

Once you understand the sacrifices that preserved your DNA and insured your ability to study European history in protected comfort, you may or may not start to appreciate the history of the greatest Nation that rose from relative obscurity to become the single super-power in the world in 250 years.

 

[CitizenPained]

I teach U.S. History.

All of it.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

My daughter just got done with her AP Euro Class for the year, and she LOVED IT!

Next year she takes AP US History. She said she doesn't think it will be as interesting since our country isn't as old as Europe. I told her there are MANY interesting things to learn abour our country.


What is/was your favorite thing to study/read about in US History?

I've always found US History to be more exciting and interesting than European History. We're such a robust, rambunctious, ornery group of people! Find me any other nation that has gone from non-existent to THE world power in just two centuries.

Granted, teachers have a tendency to leach all of the juice out of American history (or any history, nine times out of ten) by making it all about dry, dusty dates and names. What makes history interesting is the people, the personalities, the STORIES. I have a book at home that tells the unknown stories of American history, which I will give you the name of as soon as I get home. If she can't find anything in there to fascinate her and make her want to learn more, she's just not trying.

Some of my favorites are the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, the election of Rutherford B. Hayes, and the fistfight that broke out in the House of Representatives in 1857. It always amuses me to hear people talk about how "uncivil" partisan politics has become, since I know how many times in the past US politicians have attacked each other physically, as opposed to with just words.

I like the stories too. It is the personalities that make the policy a lot.

And some stories are too rich. One of the best stories in English history is the battle of Minden, where a regiment mutinied against goofy orders and went on to win the battle. The troops were left alone and the officer was court martialed and stripped of his rank and the judgement of the court was not to be used by the military in any capacity.

How that relates to US history is the the officer the troops mutinied against was appointed by George III as minister to the colonies. It was his policies from 1773 onward that made the revolution.

 

[Patrick2]

Lots of things:

- Creation of the modern world's first democratic state.

- The liberation of western europe, the pacific, and asia in WWII.

- All the achievements in space exploration.

- The technical innovations: mass production, the internet precursor arpanet, the transistor, the telephone, the light bulb, etc etc.

- The victory over the soviet union.

 

[Disenchanted61]

My favorite part can only be acknowledged from experience, and that would be the 1970's when we all had a sense of sanity and Wall Street was only "that piece of crap in New York city."

 

[mudwhistle]

My daughter just got done with her AP Euro Class for the year, and she LOVED IT!

Next year she takes AP US History. She said she doesn't think it will be as interesting since our country isn't as old as Europe. I told her there are MANY interesting things to learn abour our country.


What is/was your favorite thing to study/read about in US History?

I learned U.S. History at San Diego State University from a prof from the UK.

He always called us "The Colonials".

 

[Disenchanted61]

It's not about being a liberal or conservative, or a this or a that, it's about doing the right thing.

 

[Article 15]

I always like reading about the Industrial Revolution

 

[Divine Wind]

There are many great and noble times in our history, but I will go with those who say WWII.

It changed our nation both by bringing us out of our isolationist shell and by turning us into both an economic and military superpower.

 

[HUGGY]

What is your favorite part about U.S.History?

The Native American genocide...definitely!

The Small Pox blankets was an especially nice touch.

Slavery comes in a distant second. You pretty much have to agree that you ARE a slave to be a victim of slavery. The blacks could have easily killed the slave holders and of course would have been killed themselves eventually but at least they could have died on their feet rather than on their knees.

 

[Swagger]

My daughter just got done with her AP Euro Class for the year, and she LOVED IT!

Next year she takes AP US History. She said she doesn't think it will be as interesting since our country isn't as old as Europe. I told her there are MANY interesting things to learn abour our country.


What is/was your favorite thing to study/read about in US History?

I learned U.S. History at San Diego State University from a prof from the UK.

He always called us "The Colonials".

It sounds as though he and I would've got on rather well.

 

[Disenchanted61]

Before the WTO and IMF took root

 

[westwall]

The period immediately after independence and the development of the Navy culminating in the naval battles of the War of 1812.